REDWOOD CITY — The six men and six women sitting in judgment of Scott Peterson began Wednesday deliberating the fate of the former Modesto fertilizer salesman who is accused of strangling or smothering his pregnant wife in December 2002.

Laci Peterson’s mother, surrounded by her family, clutched a tissue as Judge Alfred Delucchi read to the jury the court’s instructions. Peterson’s family sat motionless as their son, sitting between his attorneys a few feet in front of them, watched the judge explain the charges against him.

Jurors will make their decision based on 80 days of testimony from 174 prosecution witnesses, 14 defense witnesses and myriad photographs, tape recordings and other court exhibits.

A line of 13 San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies stood against the courtroom wall as Delucchi read. They will guard the jurors during their deliberations, the judge said.

At noon Wednesday, the jury went into seclusion to eat lunch and begin poring over the evidence. Jurors will be sequestered until they reach their decision. When not in the jury deliberation room at the courthouse, members will live in a local hotel.

If they return a guilty verdict, jurors will decide between first-degree murder, which carries a penalty of death or life in prison without parole, or second-degree murder, which carries a penalty of 30 years to life in prison.

“(For) first-degree murder you need two things: expressed malice and intent to kill, and premeditation,” Delucchi told jurors. For second-degree, the jurors will have to believe that Peterson killed his wife without planning it.

He argued that because prosecutors presented no blood, no cause of death or any other evidence usually associated with murder cases, the jury must acquit.

“The hallmark of our justice system is if the prosecution does not prove their case, then you must acquit Mr. Peterson,” he said to the jury.

During his rebuttal to Geragos’ argument, prosecutor Rick Distaso walked back and forth in front of the jury holding a picture of Laci Peterson.

“They argued that the prosecution kept changing their theory. That’s actually very clever, because we never proposed a theory to you until I got up and argued. … We propose our theories in closing arguments,” he said.

Geragos Tuesday charged prosecutors with changing their murder theory midstream, pointing to Distaso’s opening statement in which he provided Peterson’s mistress Amber Frey as the murder motive. The defense said that now Distaso was saying Peterson’s motive for murder was getting out of his responsibilities as a father.

Distaso analogized the case as a jigsaw puzzle of the Golden Gate Bridge. He said that while some of the blue puzzle pieces may fit into areas of water or sky, you don’t just throw them out. “Take each piece just like a puzzle and put it together,” he said.

The prosecutor also said that in the defense closing argument, Geragos never explained the most damaging evidence against Peterson: the fact that the bodies of Laci and their unborn child washed ashore exactly where Peterson said he’d been fishing.

“They didn’t touch it,” Distaso exclaimed. “Either he killed them and hid the bodies, or someone did it to frame him.”

Geragos said that the real killers, having read about Peterson’s alibi in the newspaper, dumped the bodies there. The defense attorney throughout the trial said the Petersons’ neighborhood was filled with homeless drifters and registered sex offenders.

“You got to feel bad for the homeless folks in this area. Man, they’re getting a bad rap,” Distaso said. The prosecutor revealed that the press never mentioned the Berkeley Marina until Dec. 28, four days after Laci vanished.

“It’s just not reasonable that anybody put the bodies in the Bay to frame him. If it’s not reasonable, you must reject it.”

Walking out of the Hall of Justice, Scott’s half-sister Susan Caudillo said she was feeling “very confident. We’re all fine, and Scott’s going to be home soon. It’s just a matter of time.”

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